Match Review

The Brisbane Broncos have ended the St. George Illawarra Dragons finals chances with a 30-22 victory at Suncorp Stadium with 36,720 in attendance.

Brisbane opened up the Dragons in the first half with a comfortable 24-4 lead after forty minutes. Ben Hunt was Brisbane's Commander in Chief as he led his side around the field and bagged two tries in the 8 point win.

The first points came as Ben Hunt crossed for his first in the 10th minute as he split the sliding Dragons defenders. His second came mid-way through the first half as his show and go fooled the Dragons again as he slipped over for the Broncos second try.

In the middle of the Ben Hunt show, Jason Nightingale posted the only first half Red V points in the 16th minute via a pin-point Benji Marshall cross field kick.

Justin Hodges has taken the opportunity to play at fullback with both hands and his skills provided the play for Matt Gillett to slice the Dragons line and extend the Broncos lead to 18-4 with 10 minutes until the break.

Shortly before half time, Ben Hunt was in action again as he followed up a break from Andrew McCullough to send Daniel Vidot over in the corner courtesy of a bullet pass.

The second half saw a swing in momentum which came at the hands of referee Ben Cummins as he controversially sin binned Matt Gillett in the 54th minute. Gillett was ruled (wrongly) to be offside from a penalty tap as Benji Marshall bolted 40 metres downfield. It was later revealed, in a rare moment, that Cummins apologised to Gillett for his actions.

The Dragons when on to score three straight tries as Josh Dugan (54th minute), Joel Thompson (60th minute) and Peter Mata'utia (64th minute) cracked the shifting Broncos defence. The Dragons faithful full of hope as he surged back into the game.

Inside the final 15 minutes, the game was truly on as the sides battled with two points between them. Both teams playing for a spot in the finals but the Broncos kept their season alive with the final points posted by man of the moment, Matt Gillett in the 72nd minute.

Next week the Broncos head south to Melbourne as they face the Storm at AAMI Park. Meanwhile the Dragons travel up the M1 in preparation to battle the Newcastle Knights on Sunday afternoon.